Ginger Green Play Date Queen: The Only Friend

Ginger Green
Play Date Queen is a fabulous new chapter book series starring a
cute little fox. In each book, Ginger has a play date with a different friend,
overcoming inevitable challenges and conflict along the way.

In
The Only Friend, Ginger Green invites
her friend Maya over to play. Problems arise when Ginger’s big sister Violet
takes a liking to Maya and wants to play too. When the jealousy escalates and
Ginger storms off, all seems lost – until Ginger comes up with an idea so
everyone is included.

The
story explores jealousy, anger, problem-solving and appreciating different
types of families. While Ginger is sometimes annoyed by her bossy big sister
and her little sister Penny (who, adorably, insists on being ‘nude’), Maya
points out that as an only child, she doesn’t have instant playmates like
Ginger does. Ultimately, the books celebrate compromise and friendship.

Super
short and with only three chapters, the Ginger
Green Play Date Queen series offers a wonderful introduction to the world
of chapter books for newly independent readers, with lots of repetition
throughout. That the illustrations depict the characters
as little foxes (which isn’t mentioned in the text) adds a charming point of
difference.